Outline

Introduction

One of the clinically most important degenerative spinal disorders in the aging population is lumbar spinal canal stenosis. Sufficient conservative treatment of spinal canal stenosis is necessary due to high overall risk of surgical intervention in elderly patients frequently presenting with co-morbidity. Up to date, conservative management consists of physiotherapy, oral medication such as non-steroidal-anti-inflammatories, prostaglandines, interleukines or calcitonin and intermittend epidural steroid injections. It is now consensus that enzymatic and neurochemical mediation is responsible for pain and inflammation in spinal canal stenosis.

Patients, Material and Method

40 Patients aged 60 to 88 years with diagnosed SCS following well established clinical and radiological criteria were included in this study. Daily treatment included the administration of a local anastaetic, an opioid and a steroid-injection for a duration of 4 to 10 days. Additionally, all patients underwent physiotherapy. The outcome after 6 to 12 month was evaluated using the Oswestry-Disability-Questionair (ODQ), visual analogue scale and walking distance before and after treatment.

Results

Detailed data on clinical and radiological results of 40 patients followed up at least for 6 months will be presented.